DC Classics.Com Nekron Week! White Lantern Flash Review

I have no idea what I’m going to say in this review. I really enjoyed DC Universe Classics over the years, warts and all. So much so that I’m a bit disenchanted with the prospect of wrapping up my reviews on the original line with a figure like White Lantern Flash.

Like Sinestro, White Lantern Flash appeared to have been a late addition to the DC Universe Classic Wave 20 lineup. He wasn’t ready in time for the announcement at SDCC 2011, relegated to a text blurb to let us know he was coming. His arrival is similarly low-key.

I should say upfront that I’m not opposed to this figure. It’s interesting in its own way. If I had a Rainbow Raider, then an all-white Flash could come in handy. I don’t mind repaints of one-off costumes, far from it. I’ve come to enjoy my Blue Lantern Flash as a similar example. I’ve bought plenty of DCUC Batmen because the costume variations appeal to me in different ways. Not to mention Mattel’s love affair with Hal Jordan. That said, this Flash isn’t really my cup of tea. My disappointment is two-fold.

One is his placement in the line. He’s one of the last figures. I presume that Mattel didn’t intend for this wave to be the last one. That’s just something that seems to have happened suddenly. As such, the lineup isn’t really collector friendly. Reverse-Flash was a much needed rogue, Hawk & Dove fill out the generic roster, but a Speedy that doesn’t go with our Teen Titans? A Green Arrow in his short-lived 2010 costume? GA ended up with a great figure, but I just don’t care about it. There’s Sinestro who, like I said, appears to have been last minute addition. He certainly feels it, but he was an addition that improved the line.

White Lantern Flash also feels like a last minute addition, but he doesn’t really add that much to the line. He doesn’t right any wrong. He doesn’t fill any untenable void in our collections. He’s easily the weakest figure in the wave. I don’t want to look at this figure that disdainfully. I forgot where I read it at, I think it was on Twitter, someone was poking fun at the opposition to MOTU Classics Vykron and said something to the effect of he “Vykrom commited the cardinal sin of not being Ram Man”. That is so true. We should try not to just a figure by what it isn’t, that’s usually irrelevant. I’m having trouble with that here. There are other characters or versions of characters that could’ve easily filled this low-development, repaint spot. Heck, there are other Flash figures could’ve easily filled this low-development, repaint spot. It’s difficult to separate disliking for Flash for what he is and and what he isn’t. Fortunately, Mattel gave me some ammunition in the “what he is” department with their execution. Continue to Page 2…

I think that about sums it up for me. One of the reasons I was so disappointed with this wave as I was opening it was the “white” lantern Flash. When I got my box from BBTS, the packing just so happened to have “white” lantern Flash, “white” Hawk, and Dove on top. While Dove is not a bad figure, it’s also not the Dove I wanted, and then the gray or light gray paint on Flash and Hawk really disappointed me. By the time I got through Red Arrow (should have been TT Speedy)and Green Arrow (perfectly happy with the original)I wasn’t even excited for the two figures I really wanted in wave 20. At least we’re getting a fresh start this month with Jay Garrick and hopefully we won’t have any more figures like “white” lantern Flash.

Plus, I’m sure that Reverse Flash, Johnny Quick, Cherry Barry, “white” Barry, Blue Barry, Big Chest Barry, original Barry, Jay Garrick, and Kid Flash could probably team up and run fast enough to travel through the Speed Force of the toy world and pull Wally Flash out of the Mattel vortex he’s hidden in right? RIGHT?

Well, the main issue here is the fact that this costume is actually worn by White Lantern REVERSE FLASH in one of the Brightest Day variant covers, save for the boots. (they at least got the correct orientation of Barry’s lightning bolt emblem).

DC Direct got it right when they did their White Lantern Flash figure.

I’m what you may call a Matty apologist. I tend to look for others to blame with some of the other issues DCUC has had. Not with this figure though. This one screams we don’t care, we don’t have to pay 4H to produce anything new. Back when this was 1st announced and no pictures were given to us, I saw the potential for disaster. I even submitted a question to Matty shortly after about the possibility of changing it to a Wally West Flash. ALL THEY HAD TO DO WAS PAINT A BELT!

I’m starting to consider that we are supposed to forget Wally West ever existed based on DC’s lack of acknowledging him in the NUDC.

see, i go the other way… i generally think things that aren’t mattel’s fault, are. i blame mattel for the break ups of newt gingrich’s marriages, i blame them for puppy cancer, i blame them for this season of “the voice,” and i must say… that makes me pretty happy. so i see this figure and think “yup, puppy cancer.”

There definitely feels like a generation of comics fans DC would like to pretend doesn’t exist. The nU stuff flies in the face of everything that came before, but if you were reading in the 70s then you’re characters are still around. If you were reading in the years just before Didio, you’re screwed.

I’ve been trying to view this figure more as Mattel giving me an extra set of the little arm lightnings so i could make my Garth Ranzz look a little cooler on display. Yes, it was kind of expensive having to buy arm lightning to get that c&c piece, but hey, that’s what you get when you try to be a completionist.

Now, since we’re nearly done with this wave, do you think it’s ok for me to get up from this barrel Mattel’s got me bent over?

This whole wave had to be sucking up to Johns. End of. You can’t convince me of anything else.

I would suggest the only reason they re-used the S-shield lightning was it was in the same mold as the arm lightning, but there was another fairly recent figure who used that arm lightning withOUT the shield, wasn’t there? (Black Lightning? B.VULCAN??)

Like I said in other reviews, I don’t get why this wasn’t A- a variant slot for Thawne, or B- Wally, which BN was really his last time in action, as all I remember him doing in the Flash series leading into Flashpoint was a picnic date with Linda.

At least I still have my DCD Wallys and will continue to think of Cherry Barry as the darker costume Wally once wore.

As many have noted, there’s a story here about the end of the DCUC line to tell. Mattel’s lineup does not seem like a final goodbye and the shenanigans with the All Star line is also telling that something happened to short circuit Mattel’s plans.

All that being said, I just can’t get behind this Flash. Or most of the other figures. I have some desire for Nekron but I will probably just go for the DC Direct version since I can’t bear to miss the scythe. Sinestro is the only one I’ve gotten and all I’ll probably get, perhaps Hawk and Dove.

I don’t know about y’all but I’ll probably hope to grab these on sale, clearance, or at a discount store like TJ Maxx/Marshall’s.

I’be gone on record as saying I actually like this wave. I’ve needed Hawk and Dove since the line started, Red Arrow and Zoom are easy variants that I’ve been clamoring for for a while, I never got a Sinestro Corps Sinestro the first go-around, so I’m happy to get a height-correct version.

That said, this figure was a total waste of a slot. The one thing I was looking forward to with this figure was getting a White Lantern to help fill out my display of multi-colored Lanterns. So, what accessory did Mattel drop? The goofy glued-on back lightning that has Superman’s symbol on it? No, they dropped the damn lantern.

Mattel’s not ever produced a white lantern accessory, no. Not sure about DCD. When this wave was first announced, White Lantern Flash was supposed to have come with one, but clearly things got scaled back, since neither Barry nor the AS Hal got their lantern, and Nekron is absent one scythe.

I’ve owned both electric Supermen since wave 2 when they came out and have never noticed the “S” on the back until now. I agree that it’s silly they used it, but I think it’s very possible a lot of people wouldn’t notice.